Darlington Mowden Park kicked off the 2018/19 National One season with a win on Saturday following a tight game against Bishop's Stortford. DMP came out 23-26 winners after a thrilling second half, and DOR Danny Brown was delighted to be returning to the North East with all 5 points. “We’re really happy to be coming away with maximum points after a really tough game against a strong Bishop’s Stortford side. We came into the game with a lot of injuries but the boys applied themselves brilliantly to come away with the win. Bishop’s Stortford are a great club and I’m sure they’ll do really well this season."

It was a story of 2 halves on Saturday with the first 40 ending scoreless, before 49 points were scored in the second. Reflecting on a see saw encounter, Brown added: "There were a lot of errors from both sides in that first half to be honest and we both had chances to open the scoring. It opened up a bit more in the second half but the boys dug in really well in the end to hold on for all 5 points."

Mowden's 26 point tally was in spite of losing 2 men to the sin bin, and Brown was pleased with how his side reacted to both yellow cards: "We defended really well for the 20 minutes when we were down to 14 and we managed to score 2 tries in that period as well. It's never easy defending with 14 for a quarter of the game but the boys battled hard and they deserved the win in the end."

Tries from Appleby, Seals and McTurk gave Mowden a slender lead with 10 minutes remaining before Chris Georgiou secured the bonus point on his league debut. A total of 6 summer signings were on display at Silver Leys, and Brown was happy with how the new additions hit the ground running: "All of the lads on debut performed well, George Stokes was our Man of the Match and he worked really well with Joe Duffy in the back row. Bruno added a lot of energy at 9 and the back 3 of Jordy, Josh and Chris all had good games."

Mowden now return to the Northern Echo Arena on Saturday as they face Rotherham Titans, and Brown was keen keen to stress the competitive nature of the league this season: "It’s a nice way to start the season but it’s only going to get harder now. We've been handed a really tough first month of fixtures and it’s the most competitive the league has been in years. Having said that we’re looking forward to the challenge and we'll take it one game at a time starting with Rotherham next week.”

Tickets for Saturday's game at the Arena are available on the day priced at £10 for adults, £8 for concessions and FREE for U16s. Stay tuned for more on the big game including match previews and team news.